Southampton · online by video, with the Hove room for occasional sessions
Counselling and therapy for Southampton
If something in your Southampton life has started to feel too heavy, and you can't quite name it yet, this is a sensible first step. I work one to one from a single room in Hove, an 86-minute drive east along the coast, so from Southampton our weekly hour would usually be on secure video, with a visit in person whenever you want one.
The practical facts for Southampton
- Where sessions happen
- A private room at Intergen House, 65-67 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ, or secure video.
- From Southampton by car
- About 86 minutes with clear roads (61.2 miles); longer at busy times.
- By train
- Direct trains from Southampton Central to Hove.
- Free NHS talking therapy
- NHS Talking Therapies Southampton, 0800 612 7000
- Fees
- £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90, £120 for 120. The first 15-minute call is free.
- Registration
- BACP registered member, no. 109340 (check the register); UKCP student member in advanced psychotherapy training.
Cruise terminals, hospital wards and lecture halls
Southampton runs on shifts and timetables.
The port supports 45,600 jobs, and around three million cruise passengers pass through its five terminals each year, so for plenty of households the working week is shaped by sailings and turnarounds. University Hospital Southampton is one of the city's largest employers, and Southampton General Hospital on Tremona Road keeps its staff on rotas that pay no attention to weekends. Add two universities with roughly 40,000 students between them, plus Ordnance Survey, BBC South and Carnival UK, and you have a city of 248,922 people that rarely sits still. That pace can hide a great deal. You can be busy all day in Ocean Village or on a ward at the General and still come home to a flatness that has been with you for months, or a worry that wakes you long before the alarm.
Beginning when you're not sure what's wrong
You don't need a tidy explanation or a label before you get in touch. Some arrive with something specific: a relationship ending, a parent who is unwell, a contract at the port that wasn't renewed, or a first year at university that feels nothing like it was meant to. Others only know that they've been short-tempered for a while, or sleeping badly, or that the evening glass of wine has quietly crept up. Each of those is enough to start with. In the first few sessions we untangle what is knotted together, whether that's shifts at the port, money, family a long way off, or an older hurt that a change has woken, and agree where to begin. If one-to-one counselling with me doesn't look like the right fit, I'll tell you plainly and point you towards the free services in the city instead. The methods I draw on are set out on a separate page; on a first call you'll mostly notice being listened to without being hurried. I've been in recovery myself and have more than 25 years' practice behind me, so you needn't edit yourself to protect me.
Pressures that come with Southampton's working rhythm
Life set by sailing schedules
If your work follows the port's turnarounds or Carnival UK's sailings, early starts and broken weeks can wear down sleep and patience long before you notice it happening.
Rotas at the General
Shifts at Southampton General Hospital or the Princess Anne have you caring for others all day, with little room left to ask how you are.
Student years far from home
Among roughly 40,000 students at the University of Southampton or Solent University, perhaps away from family for the first time and struggling quietly in Portswood or Highfield.
Free help in the evening
The Lighthouse in Shirley and Bitterne runs an out-of-hours drop-in for adults from 4:30pm, and Solent Mind offers wider support, both usable alongside counselling.
Public health figures for the area
These are local authority figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. The figures describe a whole population over a period, not any one person.
Free and low-cost support for Southampton
Our private sessions can run in parallel with the free help on offer across the city. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust now operates NHS Talking Therapies Southampton, formerly Steps2Wellbeing, and anyone in the city can contact it directly about anxiety or low mood. Solent Mind works across the city, The Lighthouse opens its Shirley and Bitterne doors to adults in the evenings, and people aged 11 to 25 can use Safe Haven Southampton, run by No Limits.
- Free NHS talking therapyNHS Talking Therapies Southampton0800 612 7000Free NHS talking therapy for anxiety, low mood and related difficulties. You can refer yourself, with no GP referral needed.
- If drinking or drug use is part of itSSJ&IRun by The Society of St James, in partnership with Inclusion. Free and confidential.
- Local organisationSSJ&I aftercare and The SSJ AcademyRecovery community.
- Local organisationMountbatten Hampshire counselling and bereavement support
- Local organisationThe White Lily CentreBereavement support centre in Bitterne, low-cost or fee-paying.
- Local organisationUnpaid Carers Support SouthamptonLow-cost or fee-paying.
For gambling, the National Gambling Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 8020 133 (NHS gambling support).
Private counselling with me can run alongside any of these; you do not have to choose one or the other.
If someone at home is hurting, threatening or controlling you, the National Domestic Abuse Helpline is free, day or night, on 0808 2000 247.
If you need urgent help now
If you need help right now, please don't wait for a session.
Local drop-in crisis support: Safe Haven Southampton (No Limits, young people 11-25) (check opening times before you go).
If you drink heavily every day, or take drugs such as benzodiazepines or GHB daily, do not stop suddenly without medical advice. Withdrawal can cause seizures and can be dangerous. Your GP or the local drug and alcohol service can arrange medically assisted withdrawal. Call 999 or go to A&E if someone in withdrawal is shaking visibly, unusually restless or agitated, confused, seeing or hearing things that are not there, or has a fit. For milder symptoms, such as a slight tremor or sweating, contact your GP or NHS 111 the same day (NHS guidance). Counselling works alongside medical support, not instead of it.
What people in Southampton ask before starting
Is face-to-face counselling realistic from Southampton?
Intergen House in Hove is roughly 86 minutes away by road, or one direct Southern service along the West Coastway from Southampton Central. Meeting in person therefore takes up most of a day, so weekly sessions usually happen over secure video from wherever you feel comfortable. Where sitting together matters to you, Hove visits can be arranged from time to time, perhaps for a first meeting.
Is there a wait before counselling can begin from Southampton?
Once the free consultation is done and we've agreed to carry on, you choose from whichever slots are actually open that week, fitted round shifts or lectures, rather than joining a queue. For worry or a heavy low mood there is also NHS Talking Therapies Southampton, reachable without your GP on 0800 612 7000.
Where can I go in Southampton tonight if I can't cope?
The Lighthouse drop-ins at 147 Shirley Road and 432 Bitterne Road are open to adults from 4:30pm to 10:30pm, with online support as well. Samaritans Southampton and District listen by phone, and Samaritans can be reached on 116 123 at any hour. If a life is at risk, call 999. More numbers are gathered in the urgent help panel on this Southampton guide.
My hours at the port change every week. Will sessions still work?
They can, within the times I have available. Because sessions from Southampton are normally on video, you lose no hours travelling, so an appointment can sit on a day off between sailings or before a late shift. If your rota changes, let me know early and we'll look for another slot that week.
How much do sessions cost, and is the first call free?
Sessions are £80 for 60 minutes, £100 for 90 minutes and £120 for 120 minutes, the same in person in Hove or by video. The first 15-minute call is free, with no obligation to book. There is no NHS referral needed to see me privately.
A first conversation, wherever you are in Southampton
When you feel ready, a short conversation is the easiest way to see whether we are a good fit. There is no obligation.